Freight car door stop



6. K. F. NYSTROM Ei'AL 2,413,575

FREIGHT CAR DOOR STOP Filed May 29, 1944 INVENTORfi Kari Z'AQJLMWZ Q Patented Dec. 31, 1946 Karl F. Nystrom, Nashotah, and Vernon Milwaukee, Wis.

L. 'Green,

Application 'May 29, 1944, serial No. 537,928

(cut-s2) 2 Claims.

Our invention relates to stops for the sliding doors of railroad freight cars; and has for one of its objects the provision of a stop that is simple in construction and at the same time strong and durable and adapted to withstand the severe stresses to which it is subjected during the opening movements of the sliding car door.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a door stop capable of easy application to present-day freight cars equipped with the standard railway equipment doors and adapted to eliminate the difficultiesand failures encountered with door stops as heretofore emplo ed on such standard equipment gour improved stop being designed to dissipate the stresses encountered and to resist the impacts encountered during a rapid opening movement of the door without causing injury to the door. and its mountings; the invention being especially intended for use in conjunction with doors whose bottoms are slidably supported by roller or antifriction element carrying brackets secured to the lower part of the door adjacent the front and rear sides of the door..

The objects and advantages of our invention will be readily comprehended from the following detailed description of the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure l is a side elevation of the lower rear end of a car, door and its supporting mounting and portion of a car side wall with our improved-stop applied; the door being shown in complete open and stop engaging position.

Figure -2 is a sectional elevation taken along the line 3-3 of Figure 1 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Our improved door stop is more especially intended for use on a present-day type of freight car, a portion of the side wall whereof is shown at If! and provided with a standard railway equipment, the rear end portion whereof is shown at l i, namely, a door supported at its bottom by -roller carrying brackets arranged adjacent the lower forward and rear corners of the door as shown at [-2, with the rollers (the rear roller being shown at l3) arranged on a suitable track"- way or rail indicated at and supported by suitablebra'ckets 15, secured to the side .sill 16, with the track or rail I4 extending throughout the car side door opening and agiven distance beyond one side of the opening to support the door when in complete open position.

In order to prevent canting of the door during its movement to open position, the supporting roller brackets of the standard railway equipv ment doors are formed and attached at the lower rear corners of the door so as to position the rollers it slightly beyond or rearward of the rear edge of the door.

From operating experience, it has beenfound advisable to locate the door stop in line with the l'ower or bottom end of the door; and it has also been found inadvisableto employ the rigid type of stop, which was riveted to the car side,

due to the fact that, under the severe impacts of the door in its movement to open position, the rivets 'of the stop were being sheared and more or "less damage to the door was encountered. Although regulations require the door to be locked before a car is moved, the regulation is not universally complied with and as a result,

during switching operations or movement of the car at excessive speeds, the door is more or less violently thrown into contact with the door stop.

With the type of door supporting roller carrying bracket shown in the drawing, it is necessary to provide a stop for the lower end of the door which will in no way interfere with the roller carrying bracket, while at the same time provide a stop capable of withstanding the severe impacts to which it may be subjected.

Our improved door stop as illustrated in the drawing comprises a rear angle member or bracket 19, whose vertical or upstanding leg or side is recessed as shown in Figure 2 to fit about the angle of the auxiliary or upper side sill member 26 and extend beneath said member into contact with the car side sill Hi. This edge or side of the angle bracket i9 is welded throughout its edge, as shown at 2|, to the auxiliary side sill member 20 and to the car side sill IE;

while the lower or horizontally disposed side or leg of the bracket I9 is preferably made to taper inwardly 'or toward the side sill at its rear end. The upstanding side or leg of the bracket is is 'apertured to freely receive the horizontally disposed bolt 22. The forward side of the upstanding leg of the bracket I9 is provided with a rectangular resilient element or comparatively thick rubber pad 23, preferably extending throughout the height and the width of the upper recessed portion of thebracket side. The rubber pad 23 is held in place by the bolt 22 which passes through an aperture in the pad 23. In order to distribute the impacts throughout the entire pad and increase its efficiency, as well as to prevent injury and wear, we provide the stop with a front plate or anvil member 24 adapted to extend throughout the width and height of the pad 23; the anvil member 24 being held in place by the bolt 22, whose head preferably is countersunk in the anvil 24, as shown in dotted. lines in Figure 1.

As the rectangular rubber pad merely is supported in place by the bolt 22 and hence is apt to rotate outwardly about the bolt, we provide the anvil member 24 at its top with a rearwardly extending portion or plate 25, which extends across the rubber pad 23 and also across the top of the upstanding side or leg of the angle bracket IS. The portion 25 in the exemplification is shown as a separate piece or plate welded at 26 to the top of the anvil member 24; although it could be made integral with the anvil.

Without this overlapping portion, or other suitable means, the rubber pad would be free to rotate outward at its upper end and thus leave a part of the pad uncovered by the anvil members 24, thereby materially reducing the effective shock absorbing area of the pad; the pad 23 being designed to dissipate or absorb the impacts encountered by the striking plate or anvil 24 which is free to move rearwardly by reason of the fact that the bolt 22 is slidably mounted in the angular bracket [9.

During installation the rubber pad 23 preferably is placed under slight compression by screwing the nut 2'1 sufficiently on the bolt 22; and in order to maintain this condition the nut 21 is then welded, or otherwisely immovably secured to the bolt.

To prevent the roller housing or bracket l2, which is made of malleable iron, coming into contact with the striking plate or anvil member 24 and thereby become broken, we provide the rear side of the car door ll, adjacent the bottom, with a comparatively heavy cylindrical pin or striker 23, which preferably is-welded to the rear stile or edge of the metal door.

The pin or striker preferably is provided with a reduced or beveled outer end and the striker is positioned to normally engage or strike the anvil member 24 slightly below the center thereof; the striker 28 being positioned as stated to meet a condition which arises during switching operations at excessive speeds with the door in unlatched condition, at which time the door during its speedy rearward travel may raise off its track or rail as much as three-fourths of an inch.

Our improved door stop is especially designed to resist and absorb this type of blow resulting from the speedy switching operation mentioned and raising of the door as stated, at which time the raised striker will strike the anvil member approximately at the center.

Mounting the resilient element or rubber pad and the anvil member as described enables the maximum shock absorbing or dissipating action of the stop to be obtained, while at the same time permitting renewal or replacement of these elements to be easily made.

The structure shown is believed to be the simplest embodiment of our invention, but structural modifications may be possible without, however, departing from the spirit of our invention as defined in the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. A stop for the bottom supported sliding door of a railroad freight car comprising an angular metal bracket formed to provide a fiat upstanding portion and a horizontal portion, the upstanding portion on one of its vertical edges being recessed to fit about the side' and bottom of an overhanging car auxiliary side sill and to be edgewiselysecured thereto and to the car side sill so as to extend outwardly therefrom with the upstanding portion in the path of the lower end'of a car door,'said upstanding portion having an opening therethrough; a resilient shock absorbing block arranged on the forward face of the upstanding portion of the bracket and having an opening registering with the opening in said upstanding portion; a flat anvil plate loosely arranged against said block and coextensive therewith; means for preventing rotative movement of the block and the anvil plate; and regulable means disposed through the anvil plate, said block and the upstanding portion whereby the anvil plate and block are yieldingly supported on said upstanding portion; in combination with a roller carrying bracket secured to the bottom of the door so as to extend laterally beyond the plane of the vertical edge of the door and a plane ended elongated pin adapted to be rigidly secured to the rear edge of a sliding car door adjacent its bottom arranged to extend beyond the vertical plane of the outer end of the roller carrying bracket and adapted to normally engage said anvil plate substantially adjacent the center thereof.

2. A door stop for a bottom supported sliding door of a railroad freight car comprising an angularly bent plate adapted to be disposed in the path of the lower end of the door, formed to provide a forward upstanding fiat sided leg and a horizontally disposed rear leg, the upstanding leg at its car contacting edge 'being recessed to fit about the side and bottom of a car auxiliary side sill and into contact with the car side sill to permit said recessed edge to be welded to the auxiliary side sill and to the side sill, said upstanding leg having an opening; a resilient rectangular pad disposed on the forward face of the upstanding leg and having an opening registering with the opening in said upstanding leg; a flat anvil plate at the forward face of said pad and coextensive therewith and having an opening registering with the openings in the pad and leg, said anvil plate at its top having a rearwardly disposed portion loosely extending acros the top of the pad and upstanding leg whereby rotative movement of pad and anvil plate is prevented; a bolt disposed through the registering openings of the anvil plate and pad and slidable in the opening in said upstanding leg; means whereby forward movement of the bolt is prevented and the anvil plate regulably held in pad compressing condition; and an elongated striker pin adapted to be immovably secured to the lower rear edge of a car door, adapted to engage said anvil plate when the car door is moved to open position.

KARL F. NYSTROM VERNON L. GREEN 

